Township Again Hosts Police Unity Tour Riders
More than 300 police officers from around the country set off on bicycles early in the morning of May 10 from the municipal complex on DeMott Lane for the annual Police Unity Tour.
The group is expected to arrive at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. in the morning of May 12.
The tour, a fund raiser for the memorial, was started in 2005 in Florham Park, but now includes thousands of officers from around the country.
The Franklin Township police department is represented on the tour by 16 riders.
Prior to getting the “let’s ride” command, the group heard a blessing from the Rev. Douglas J. Haefner of St. Matthias, as well as comments from FTPD Chief Lawrence Roberts, Mayor Phillip Kramer, Somerset County Sheriff Frank J. Provenzano and Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Moore.
“It’s our pleasure to host you, it’s our honor to have you,” Roberts told the group. “When I look out here I see what the men and women who truly care from the bottom of their hearts do for the people who paid the ultimate price,” he said.
“Thank you for doing this, thank you for taking the time to remember those who have fallen and thank you for your service,” Kramer said. “You are the glue that holds society together.”
Provenzano said that his office and the county were “very proud for Franklin Township to host this. Be safe and ride hard.”
Moore told the group that the tour “is about the men and women who left it all on the street somewhere in this country, serving and protecting, standing on that thin blue line. Keep them in your hearts.”